RickP
A great write up.
The drive
I thought I would chip in with our observations to date. We have just completed 6200 Km in 2 months and are still chuffed to bits with ours. No real issues, we get between 29 - 41 mpg depending on roads and speeds, a lot of the time it is long distance cruising, however autobahns do tempt you to push the speeds, so far 142 mph before traffic slowed us. Road holding is amazing for a car this size, even in the snow (18" winter tyres help a lot!) it is excellent on twisty roads. The one down side is the turning circle. Ride comfort is good and not jarring, we ran 19” before we put on the winter set. The engine is a star, the combination of economy, torque and emissions is exemplary, and the kick in the ass is smooth and progressive, still pulling strongly past 130 mph. It is no M-car, but it is no slouch for such a heavy car with a 3 litre diesel, especially when overtaking. I recently saw a BMW magazine article where the author criticised the 40d for not feeling as fast as it claimed it was. I suggest he gets out a stop watch and also takes into account the ride position and quietness of the X5 which makes you think you are travelling slower than you are!
Going downhill using the manual mode of the 8 speed box is a delight, find the right gear, take your foot of the accelerator, and it holds it speed even during the steepest descents. Gear changes in the auto mode are smooth, quiet and pitched just right. For a proper kickdown you need to bury your foot in the carpet then it rewards you with a rise in revs as it drops a gear or two and the surge of torque gets you in the back.
iDrive
The latest iDrive is a great leap forward to the previous single button affair and the programmable “radio” buttons are great. The screen is clear, bright and the colours are a good choice. I have most of the programmable buttons set up for the navigation functions, i.e. traffic mode, night mode, split screen turn, split screen entertainment and split screen off. The BMW online route planner is great for planning trips and downloading the routes to the car either online or by USB. Pity the USB import only does one route at a time. We have found the google and weather functions really useful on long trips. We also think the BMW call centre is great, although we have not used as much as we did in our previous car. One function I would have liked is auto zoom as implemented in iGo8 (BMW’s version here is a poor joke). iGo8 has a wide view of the route when no turns are due, but as you get closer to a junction it zooms in to give more details of the road layout and exits. The iDrive split screen function for turns ahead is good though, but occasionally it can be caught out by some of the weird and wonderful German junctions on the autobahns. Generally the navigation screens are a great leap forward and strike a balance between what information to present and when. The re-route function for when it identifies road delays ahead is implemented really well.
A larger harddrive music partition (12 Megs is small) would be good. You can import VBR and 320 MP3s directly through the glove box USB port with no loss of quality. It is only the CD/DVD ripping that gives you 128kb files. It would also have been nice if you could use playlists on the harddrive imported music, but alas BMW did not do that and you can only use it on the centre USB. I also connect a SD card to the centre USB port and use that for even more tracks which can also use playlists. I have been able to use my iPod as a spare file drive storing even more music and playlists using the centre USB. Volume, bass etc are good, we specified uprated speakers after reading a few posts on the quality of the base system (no pun intended).
Comfort
Comfort seats are superb, and being heated is a must have. It did take me a while to find my optimal seating position, but once I did there have been no qualms about comfort on long trips. Likewise the seating position is just right for me, although my wife (petite) looks lost in the vastness of the cabin. She has no problems in the seating position and view when she drives. This also applies to switch positions. Heating and climate control are superb, the windscreen clears fast even on the coldest mornings (so far -13). It could only be bettered by having an electrically heated windscreen like Fords and BMW Minis. I am not convinced the rear climate control was worth it, although passengers in the back love it, it does affect output from the front if they go to extremes with the settings. They also say the heating coming from under the front seat ducts as excellent.
The View
The all round view is good, not many blind spots. The large wing mirrors offer a good situational awareness and don’t suffer from as much wind noise as some vehicles I have driven. They don’t easily clear of rain though, even at speed. The camera system is good and the guidelines on the iDrive are a boon to aid parking in tight places, but if street lighting at night is poor the image does suffer. A better low light camera system or more sophisticated auto brightness/contrast would have helped.
Storage
Luggage space is huge, not Land Rover Discovery level, but more than sufficient. The storage bay in the wheel well swallows our emergency sleeping bags, car fluids and snow gear leaving the rest of the rear free for shopping/luggage etc. More than enough cubby holes, with nice deep door pockets. The split centre storage lids are great, the wife can open up one side and not need me to move my elbow off the other pad.
Lighting
Internal lighting is spot on. I have seen some posts which lament that it is not up to current 5 series ambient lighting levels, but I don’t want the inside lit up when I drive at night, I want to see what is out on the road. Instrument are clearly lit and the reading lights are well marked and give good brightness levels without distracting the driver. iDrive on night mode is bang on the nail. External lighting is amazing, the LED coronas are very bright, and on one occasion someone mistook them for headlights. The Xenons are superb and give a clear white light of the road ahead, very comforting when driving at high speeds at night.
Conclusion
After looking at other cars and weighing up the pros and cons we know we bought the right car and spec’ed it correctly. Others edge ahead in different areas, but perform poorly elsewhere. As an all round package I cannot think of anything to beat it and the engine is the star which gives it that final must have appeal for me. I just need to get a bike rack for the tow hook in spring to justify that option
CW